Congress could get Mueller report in April, Graham says

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr has told the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee that he's combing through special counsel Robert Mueller's report, removing information that can't be legally disclosed in hopes of releasing it to Congress in April.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham told The Associated Press today he had dinner the previous evening with Barr, who said he is willing to testify before Graham's committee after he sends the report to Congress. Justice Department officials said Tuesday that more information could be released in "weeks, not months."

Graham said the attorney general is going through the report to take out grand jury material and classified information, both of which can't be publicly disclosed under the law.

Barr wants to make sure nothing is released that could compromise national security or intelligence sources and methods, Graham said. He said Barr also told him he wants to check with prosecutors who have cases associated with Mueller's Russia investigation. Mueller had referred cases to other federal courts as part of his probe.

Graham later told CNN he had spoken to President Donald Trump about the Mueller report, who said "just release it." Graham said Trump was unlikely to claim executive privilege on any of the material.

The attorney general released a four-page summary of Mueller's confidential report on Sunday that said the special counsel did not find that Trump's campaign "conspired or coordinated" with the Russian government to influence the 2016 presidential election. It also said that Mueller reached no conclusion on whether Trump obstructed the federal investigation, instead setting out "evidence on both sides" of the question.

Emboldened by the end of the investigation, Trump took a victory lap on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, as Democrats pressed insistently for the full report.